Curriculum Unit Suggestions

I planned on doing an activity in my curriculum unit that taught marginal tax rates by assigning groups of students a fictional salary that fell within different tax brackets for different groups. It was suggested that I include examples of a job that might go along with their designated salary. This would benefit students by giving them a specific real-world connection with the salary they were assigned and make the activity even more personally relevant. This increased relevance would improve the students’ interest and understanding for why it was important to learn the material.

In my lesson on state and local taxation, it was suggested that I use a graphic organizer when I go about explaining the difference between regressive taxes and proportional taxes. There are several types of graphic organizers or ways to visually represent this on the board which would be a great way to facilitate learning of this difficult concept, especially for students who learn best in a way other than through notes and lecture. Play money or a “false economy” using beans or another kind of money substitute and then levying certain kinds of taxes on the students would be an easy way to visually represent this concept.

For my Google Earth lesson on taxation as a cause of revolutions, I plan on beginning the day with a few quotes from famous leaders about taxes and how people perceive them. However, I did not include specific questions about the quotes or how I planned on putting the quotes to use other than reading them. I would probably be good to have 2-3 specific questions about who the intended audience was or the background of the speaker in order to get students to understand the quote on a deeper level. Having the students pair up and discuss the quotes would be a way to have everyone participate and think out loud.